Bhabanipur bypoll: Mamata Banerjee on way to break her own record
_1633247983093_1633250721785.jpeg "Trinamool Congress supporters celebrate near CM Mamata Banerjee's residence in Kolkata on Sunday. (Samir Jana/HT Photo)")
Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister is well on her way to script history by winning the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency with a record margin.
According to latest trends from the 20th round of counting for the by-election, Banerjee is ahead of her closest opponent, Priyanka Tibrewal of the Bharataiya Janata Party (BJP), by more than 58,000 votes.
With this, the TMC chief has broken her own record of victory margin -- she had won the seat by 52,213 votes in the 2011 bypoll and 25,301 votes in 2016. Tibrewal has so far managed to garner 26,320 votes.
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The by-election in the keenly watched south Kolkata constituency was necessitated after Banerjee’s aide Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay vacated the seat for the chief minister.
Banerjee had to win this election to retain her chair of the chief minister as she had lost the April-May Assembly election from Nandigram to her aide-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari.
Meanwhile, celebrations have begun near Banerjee's Kalighat residence even though she has asked her party leaders to ensure there is no violence following announcement of the results.
(With inputs from bureau)
